Editorial

Yes, let’s celebrate, but remember responsibilities

While Berlin is getting ready for its Victorian Christmas and many have worked hard to prepare for a successful holiday season, there is still something that can’t be forgotten.

We’re not writing here that it is being placed on the back burner in favor of the holidays. That’s not the case at all. This is simply a reminder.

The fact of the matter, Tymier Dennis’s death is still to be mourned. His brother Tyheim Brown’s life is changed forever. A petition will go to the State Highway Administration advocating for change along the stretch of Route 113 running through the town.

There is a time to rejoice, and the days between Thanksgiving and New Year’s seems to be a period when we take a collective hiatus on the life’s intensities, and we work hard to celebrate. But we can’t work hard to forget.

When the Christmas trees are being taken down and the New Year’s confetti is being sucked up into vacuum cleaners, the problems facing the teenager from Berlin, struck by an unmarked state police car in early November have not gone away and must not be erased from our collective memories.

Based on the community’s exemplary reaction to the tragic accident, we are confident that the people of Berlin will not only come together in celebration, but during this season of seasons, Brown and his deceased brother will be part of our giving and our prayers. In short, they will not be forgotten.

Yes we celebrate, but we also must remember. Taking care of the infirm is absolutely part of the holiday message.

When we emerge from the eggnog and gift-wrapping, we can’t just pick up where we left off. The issue of Route 113 has not gone away. Neither should our efforts to bring it to the state’s attention at the highest level. It must not be put on hold until Jan. 2, though we know the temptation of “we’re tired, and we need to celebrate” is there.

The petition was a start.

Now Berlin residents need to keep the issue fresh. What better time than the holiday season to bring its message of sharing and caring to a youth and his family whose lives don’t pause while the rest of us find reason to celebrate.

Berlin’s biggest gift this season could and should be movement on the Route 113 conundrum.